The iPhone

Ever since I first tried a Mac computer, I hated Apple. The interface didn't work, there were program errors. The windows never maximised to fill the full screen. My list of frustrations went on and on. All the Mac lovers annoyed me because they were obviously brainwashed by Apple's marketing.

Lately, whenever I ask a simple question (e.g. "What's the weather going to be like today?" or "Can we take a shortcut to avoid this traffic?"), the only reply I get from Dan is "If we had an iPhone, we would know". I also get similar comments from Amelia, "Did you know, if you had an iPhone, it could tell you that?"

Dan has been saying for months, "I can get you an iPhone for Christmas" and "Wouldn't it be great to have an iPhone?" and "I'll get you an iPhone, I know you'll really like it". I don't want an iPhone! I hate Apple.

But maybe, just maybe, I wouldn't mind having one...

Facebook Frustrations

Hello girls,

I am feeling quite annoyed at facebook at the moment. Through some googling, I have found I am not the only one having problems with it...friends appear and disappear, sometimes my status updates won't post, I can't read messages in my inbox...and then I can. It's so temperamental. So. Annoying.

Or maybe I'm too addicted to facebook. But good news if you have an iPhone, I've found sometimes the facebook app works when the real facebook doesn't lol.

Nevertheless I hope they get it fixed sometime soon, otherwise it's Twitter for me!

The Scratch

Caitlyn likes cords and she can't keep away from the computer ones. I was always scared she'd pull the one connecting to the lamp and bring it crashing down.

When the lamp fell, Caitlyn wasn't anywhere near the computer. The irony. My huge LCD screen was left with a large scratch running down the middle. Panic overtook me cos replacing it was out of the question. I would have to accept it.

I didn't have many hopes in finding any home solutions on Google but I gave it a go anyway. The first result promised that some Vaseline would fix the problem. That sounded simple but I didn't have any at home. Scrolling down the page, someone recommended using a standard pencil eraser on the scratch. I decided I had nothing to lose and tried it. Magically, the scratch disappeared!!! Who knew the humble eraser could perform such miracles!

Lisa Mitchell

Does that name sound familiar to you?

If you watched Australian Idol a few years ago, you might remember this 16 year old girl:

You can imagine my surprise when I discovered that this was the same girl.



What is even more surprising that she is popular in Europe and people as far as France and Russia love her! Who would've thought someone from Australian Idol could make it big in Europe?

I am spamming you. Twitter question

Think of it as compensation for my absence :)

Do either of you guys use Twitter? If so, tell me your username! And what good is it? I'm not sure I see a point but I want to jump on the bandwagon.

More Eurovision...

APPARENTLY THIS MAN IS NOT GAY.



EDIT: I changed the version of the video to the one with thinly-veiled phallic symbolism.

ALIVE!

Hi girls. Believe it or not I'm alive! Sorry for the long absence, but I'm afraid I haven't done much of note lately. On the weekend I happened to watch The Notebook for the first time. It was shite, but I cried anyway. Is it true the main actor is now a furniture removalist? (because I'm not surprised)

I will try to regale you with tales of excitement soon :)

20 Books

Here are the books that I read from your list:

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien (Couldn't make it past 5 chapters every time I tried)
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger (It's always out of the library)
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald (Tried but couldn't)
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy (Still reading but I will finish it!)
34 Emma-Jane Austen (Read at school)
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne (I'm not even sure if I read it, I think I did)
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night - Mark Haddon (Loved it)
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold (Started but had to return it before I finished it)
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac (Read most of it before got really bored and skimmed the end)
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom

Ok, so counting the ones I've actually completed, the total adds up to 20.

100 Books

Yes that's right followers, I'm finally writing another entry in here hehe! I saw this on a friend's Facebook account, so I thought I'd give it a go too.

The BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books here. How do your reading habits stack up?

Instructions: Look at the list and put an 'x' after those you have read.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen x
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte (I tried!)
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwel
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller (I tried this one too...)
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier x
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger x
19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger (oh look Zoe, it's that book you want to read!)
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell (Argh another one I attempted)
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy (I've got it in front of me right now, but I haven't started!)
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams x
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll x
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy x (Recently finished, yay!)
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis x
34 Emma-Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis x
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown x
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery x
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan (I've read half...)
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley x
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt x
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding x
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett x
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Inferno – Dante
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert x(I'm reading it now, does that count??)
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White x
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton x
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl x
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Okay so I've read...18, and I own countless others, and I've attempted to read many and failed...maybe it's time to try again!

Zoe I think you would've read even more! And we can get some good ideas from here for our 'book club'

We are being followed

Ok, so it looks like I'm the only one posting here and I was going to stop but then I checked our email and got notified that we have three followers! Although I was motivated to blog without having readers, now I'm even more enthusiastic.

Not much to report from here other than omg, Caitlyn is going to be 7 months in less than a week and I'm planning on making a sweet potato pie with marshmallows (not because she's turning 7 months). I've been trying to find a good recipe on the internet (apparently an American Thanksgiving favourite and alternative to pumpkin pie) but I think I'm going to combine a couple which I think would make the best outcome. Will let you know how it goes.

UPDATE: I made the sweet potato and marshmallow pie and never will I do so again. Either I did it completely wrong or it really was absolutely disgusting. Did not look good either. (Amazingly, Dan and his family liked it. He said that if you like flan, you would like it too. Eggs, milk and sugar are just not my thing.)

Sweet and Sour

I got a pack of kiwis on the weekend as some healthy snacks for the week. Well, they turned out to be a bit sour so I got inspired and made a sultana pound cake with a layer of strawberry jam and sliced kiwis in the centre and on top. Not such a healthy snack anymore.

Fairytale

So there's the 2009 Eurovision winner. I think they said he got the most points in Eurovision history. Before I even saw him, I was told everyone was betting on him to win so my expectations were very high. When I saw him, they were all met. I loved the song. And he had the charisma (and backup dancers/acrobats) to make it a winner. Congratulations, Norway!

That Time of the Year

Eurovision is on once again and every night of this weekend I will be glued to the TV.

Every year there seems to be more and more countries participating. I don't remember if we even had two semi-finals last year (Amanda, the other Eurovision fan, might remember).

This year, Dan and I watched it together and Eurovision is never fun without throwing jeering comments at all the contestants. Here are some highlights.

Czech Republic

Dan was very disappointed this SuperGypsy (or Hitler in a cape as I see him) didn't get through.

Belarus

I was very disappointed this guy didn't get through. Isn't he the epitome of Eurovision - the hair, the white suit, the shoes and a very seducing song - what more could you ask for?

Armenia

Dan really liked this act but their look totally freaked me out.

Turkey

Catchy tune and a Turkish Shakira. No one was surprised this act got through to the final.

Romania

The best looking girl group always has a place in the finals. Is it me or does the lead singer look like Holly Valance?

Macedonia

An amazing thing happened. When they replayed all the acts of the show, I could not remember seeing this act.

Bosnia and Herzogovina

Dan named this pose "The Revolution". Very disappointed they got through to the finals.

Portugal

Our favourite. I wouldn't mind listening to this song over and over.

Looking forward to tonight's semi-finals.

Note: All photos sourced from http://www.monstersandcritics.com.

My Mother's Day

This year was the first year that I was a mother on Mother's Day. Although Amanda found that quite funny last Saturday, it really wasn't that different for me. As long as you have a mother you still have to do stuff; and now that I'm married there are two mothers to please.

Also, since my child was too young to do anything for me (can't wait to get a picture or some other work of craft), Dan gave me some flowers and a card on her behalf.

Even though we all know that we should appreciate our mothers every day, since most of us don't, it's nice to have a day to remind us.

Speaking of mothers, I recently got into watching Jon & Kate plus Eight about a young couple who have twins and sextuplets. Every time I think looking after one baby is hard enough, I remind myself of her. I bet she thought having twins was tough.

I guess it makes it all worth it when these babies start talking and expressing their own personalities. That's when the real fun begins.

Stand By Me

I thought this was a cool video:

Playing For Change | Song Around The World "Stand By Me" from Concord Music Group on Vimeo.

Better Off Without Soul

Never ever ever sign up with Soul. Dan and I made that mistake last year when we signed up for their internet plan which was the most valuable to us at the time.

It has been going quite well, with occasional disconnection problems. For $29.95 unlimited downloads, it suited us.

Then we were notified that our plan was no longer available and we had to transfer. I will not go into detail (because it just angers me) how many times we called to their customer support to only be met with "We are currently experiencing a large amount of calls and are unable to assist you. Please call another time". Then being hung up on. A few times that we did manage to get through, the most annoying woman (I suspect she was the only customer service operator) kept transferring us to other departments who never picked up.

After a while we decided to order the new plan online. We ended up ordering the TPG plan. A few days later, TPG contacted us saying that we still had Soul internet codes on our line (preventing them from connecting us). I had to call Soul to ask them to remove the codes. Amazingly I got through to some guy who told me it would be done within three days. Three days passed and nothing.

I tried calling again. After waiting for an hour on the phone, I was furious. I ended up calling TPG and asking whether they could do this from their side. They said the could and we should have our new internet on Friday. Fingers crossed.

Congratulations if you managed to read through my rant. Moral of the story: DO NOT GET SOUL INTERNET!

Changes All Around Us

I'm amazed how much the Latin scene has grown in Sydney. Only a few years ago, it didn't take long to get into La Cita but last Saturday when we were leaving at around 1am, there was a crowded queue at least 10 metres long!

Another thing I noticed was the generation gap between us (the mid-20s) and the young 18-20 year olds by the fashion.

Amelia (aka The First March Girl), a friend of ours and I were all dressed in jeans and dressy tops (the common trend of many of our female peers on a cold autumn night). Whereas the majority of young girls were wearing barely there dresses (which as a rule could not be longer than where the legs started) and variations of the shoes made famous by Carrie in Sex and the City movie.

My brother brought a few of his friends to assist with my feeble attempt to introduce my friends to nice single guys. At least it was better than not meeting anyone at all or dancing with odd strangers. And a salsa club is just no fun without a dancing partner.

Dan and I danced as much as our sleep-deprived parent selves could. His parents were kind enough to take Caitlyn for the night and let us enjoy being young. (We never take these opportunities for granted.) It is unbelievable how much a night out without the baby can do to our moods. It's the energiser all parents need.

Confrontation - How I Met Your Mother Style

Jason Segel & Neil Patrick Harris'  (Marshall & Barney) version of the Confrontation song from Les Miserables. Hilarious!

From: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhXsJjVdj1E

Unrequited Love

So we've all gone through it at some point right? Actually probably not. I think there are those of you lucky enough to not have suffered this pain. For those of you that have, here are some really relevant lyrics from one of my favourite songs by Jason Mraz, 'If it Kills Me', I love this song cos it expresses how I feel so perfectly.  I'll talk more about my situation in another entry.

Jason Mraz - If it Kills Me

Hello, tell me you know 
Yeah, you figured me out 
Something gave it away 
And it would be such a beautiful moment 
To see the look on your face 
To know that I know that you know now 

And baby that’s a case of my wishful thinking 
You know nothing 
Cause you and I 
Why, we go carrying on for hours, on and 
We get along much better 
Than you and your boyfriend 

Well all I really wanna do is love you 
A kind much closer than friends use 
But I still can’t say it after all we’ve been through 
And all I really want from you is to feel me 
As the feeling inside keeps building 
And I will find a way to you if it kills me 
If it kills me 

Well how long, can I go on like this, 
Wishing to kiss you, 
Before I rightly explode? 
This double life I lead isn’t healthy for me 
In fact it makes me nervous 
If I get caught I could be risking it all 

Baby there’s a lot that I miss 
In case I’m wrong 

Well all I really wanna do is love you 
A kind much closer than friends use 
But I still can’t say it after all we’ve been through 
And all I really want from you is to feel me 
As the feeling inside keeps building 
And I will find a way to you if it kills me 
If it kills me 

If I should be so bold 
I’d ask you to hold my heart in your hand 
Tell you from the start how I’ve longed to be your man 
But I never said I would 
I guess I’m gonna miss my chance again 

All I really wanna do is love you 
A kind much closer than friends use 
But I still can’t say it after all we’ve been through 
And all I really want from you is to feel me 
As the feeling inside keeps building 
And I will find a way to you if it kills me 
If it kills me 
If it kills me 
I think it might kill me 

And all I really want from you is to feel me 
It’s a feeling inside that keeps building 
And I will find a way to you if it kills me 
If it kills me 
If it kills me 
It might kill me

What Parents Want

Did a friend or a family member just give birth and you just can't wait to go the shops and get some cutesy tiny little thing for the cute tiny little bub?

STOP!

And think.

Other friends and family members are also probably just itching to run and buy lots of cute baby stuff so does the new mother and father really need another pretty little frilly dress?

Most likely no.

Here is your chance to come on top of the present buying well-meaning family and friends as the person who actually got something the new parents needed.

I've come up with a small list that might help.

• Most people will get clothes so if you also really want to get some doll outfit, go for the one without buttons on the back as that's the place babies spend their most time on.
  
  
• Also, babies do not need dresses or clothes with lots of frills, ribbons and buttons as they spend most of their time on their backs and just need something comfortable like a soft cotton bodysuit; something they can easily be wrapped in.
  
  
• If you want to get clothes for when they're older, take into account what season it will be when they're older and buy accordingly
  
  
• If you want to get some rattle for when they're little, buy something light as they usually end up being dropped on their faces when the baby gets bored with it.
  
  
• All toys will be put in their mouths so buy something safe
  
  
• Babies do not need 10 teddy bears
  
  
• Newborn babies do not need cute little ballet shoes
  
  
• A baby gym is great! (Even when they're too small for the gym activities, it's a good place for tummy time)
  
  
• Soft/plastic fold out books are great for when they learn to play with toys. Every time the baby moves it, she see a new picture which can occupy her for longer than other toys
  
  
• A baby bath such as Fisher-Price Rainforest Bath Center is useful beyond words
  
  
• Some soothing baby CDs to put them to sleep
  
  
• Anything that will help put the child to sleep
  
  
• Some bright books with nice rhymes
  
  
• A rocker such as this one
  
  
• Toys to tie up to the pram
  
  
• A sleeping bag with sleeves
  
  
• Toys that make noise and do lots of stuff to distract the baby when they're upset
  
  
• A musical mobile (or any mobile) for their cot
  
  
• A musical soother
  
  
• Did I mention anything to calm the baby into sleep?
  
  
• Wraps (for summer or winter) - you never seem to have enough
  
  
• Bibs (for when they start drooling). I liked ones without velcro.
  
  
• And the fail-proof present is just asking what the parents want
  

If you're a parent, what did you find useful?